Being authentic means coming from a real place within. You can only live authentically once you've defined your values and beliefs so that your actions and words align with them.

Living authentically is something we believe everyone should strive for because our time is often so limited and you only have once shot to live on this Earth. If you want to live with fewer regrets and be more fulfilled, it's important to embrace an authentic lifestyle.

Breaking Through Barriers

Living authentically sounds easy, but it's harder to accomplish especially as you get older. The younger you are, the fewer experiences you have with other people and society as a whole so it's easy to live an authentic life.

However, once you start having negative and positive experiences with others, you may let people and outside factors like the media influence how you act, what you believe in and how you live your life.

It's important to disconnect from worrying about what other people think about you as you strive to establish a lifestyle that allows you to be who you are and to let go of toxic relationships with others who may be preventing you from living authentically.

5 Ways to Start Living an Authentic Life

If adopting a more authentic life is something you're striving for this year, here are 5 key ways to help you establish it.

Define Your Values. We discussed this during last week's episode if you missed it. Defining your values will truly set the tone for your life and guide you through everything that you do. If you don't know what's truly important to you in life yet, you need to stop and define your values.

Accept yourself for better or worse. When you get married, you vow to accept your partner during the good and bad times. Do this for yourself as well. Stop beating yourself up for your shortcomings and embrace each stage of life you're in. 'Good and bad' thinking can keep you trapped in a never-ending cycle of self-judgement and self-worth issues.

Defend what makes you happy. What makes you feel happy and fulfilled? What is that constant factor that your life would not be the same without? Once you determine what those things are, give yourself permission to be a little selfish and embrace what truly makes you happy regardless of whether other people understand or agree with it.

Cut the dead weight. Cut ties with toxic people in your life who don't support you or stand in the way of you and your authentic life. By cutting out people who act as a barrier, you can open up the door to connect others people who accept and support you.

Own it and make no apologies. While there's nothing wrong with being scared of shy at times, when you're living an authentic life, you own who you are and make no apologies for being yourself. You call yourself out when you've done something wrong, and you stand by your beliefs and values.

In this episode we discuss:

• 1:10 - What does living authentically mean?
• 4:00 - What authentic living looks like for Erin
• 8:20 - What authentic living looks like for Chonce
• 11:45 - What authentic living looks like for Kayla
• 14:50 - Examples of other people who live authentically
• 18:30 - Identifying toxic relationships that are holding you back from living authentically
• 20:35 - When it's scarier to live without authenticity than to make changes to live authentically
• 22:19 - A parent's perspective on authentic living and being judged by others
• 24:49 - How living authentically is a continual process

Related Links to Check Out:

• The Importance of Defining Your Values
• Brene Brown's books that inspired Erin
• Essentialism by Greg McKeown
• You can also listen to the audio book for FREE with a 30 day trial of Audible.com!